I’m listening to a singer who I’m very sure deserves more attention than she gets. At least in English Canada. I first heard Jorane in Montreal; her group was providing the music for the Canadian Literary Awards ceremony, live on CBC, the night that Erin won her award for poetry. The music was very avant-garde, completely the opposite of what I was expecting for the night. It was energetic, loud, and used cellos. I was hooked.
Jorane (her official website is here) sings soprano. She plays the cello. She is backed up by another cellist, a bass player, a drummer, and an assortment of other instruments. She combines the low serenity of her strings with the high range of her voice. She mixes classical and punk elements for a unique sound.
Other critics have compared her to Tori Amos and Sarah McLachlan, but she’s sailing uncharted territory, constantly pushing the range of her musicians, her voice and her creative potential. Sometimes this experimentation falls flat on its face, but most times it produces something unforgettable.
Jorane has two studio albums to her credit: Vent Fou, her first, and 16mm. Of the two, I’d recommend Vent Fou for the first-time listener. In 16mm, Jorane goes off the experimental deep end more frequently, and half of the songs can take some getting used to. Both albums are brilliant, however, leaving one to eagerly anticipate where this young artist is going.
For me, Jorane’s songs provided excellent background music while I wrote Fathom Five. The deep tones of the cello mixed with Jorane’s Siren-like voice produced an otherworldly combination that evoked rocky cliffs and barren lakes, at least in my mind. Who knows what it will do for you.
The Trenchcoat Farewell project has stalled a little bit. Now that I’m working, and attending a writing class, it seems like my evening time is that much tighter. So far, I’m up to the third story of Trenchcoat 3, about 35-40% of the way there. It’ll be hard slogging for the next few stories as I still have to scan images for these. It’s frustrating, but there’s nothing I can do about that. I hope that I will be able to use some of my upcoming evenings to make some headway on this project, and push myself into Trenchcoat 4 territory by the second week of November.
I noticed in the previous post that I gave the wrong URL to Erin and I’s web wedding album. Bad me! Here’s the corrected link if you are so inclined.